Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28915811›Full record

ArticleBMC health services research2017

Strategies for the quality assessment of the health care service providers in the treatment of Gastric Cancer in Colombia.

María Del Pilar Villamil, David Barrera, Nubia Velasco, Oscar Bernal, Esteban Fajardo, Carlos Urango, Sebastian Buitrago

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC health services research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

María Del Pilar VillamilDepartment of Systems and Computing Engineering, University of Los Andes, Cr 1E No. 19A-10, Bogotá, Colombia. mavillam@uniandes.edu.co.
David BarreraDepartment of Industrial Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cr 7 No. 40 - 62, Bogotá, Colombia.
Nubia VelascoSchool of Management, University of Los Andes, Calle 21 No. 1-20, Bogotá, Colombia.
Oscar BernalEscuela de Gobierno, University of Los Andes, Cr 1E No. 19A-10, Bogotá, Colombia.
Esteban FajardoDepartment of Industrial Engineering, University of Los Andes, Cr 1E No. 19A-10, Bogotá, Colombia.
Carlos UrangoDepartment of Systems and Computing Engineering, University of Los Andes, Cr 1E No. 19A-10, Bogotá, Colombia.
Sebastian BuitragoDepartment of Industrial Engineering, University of Los Andes, Cr 1E No. 19A-10, Bogotá, Colombia.
Universidad de Los Andes · COPontificia Universidad Javeriana · CO

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWhile, at its inception in 1993, the health care system in Colombia was publicized as a paradigm to be copied across the developing world, numerous problems in its implementation have led to, what is now, an inefficient and crisis-ridden health system. Furthermore, as a result of inappropriate tools to measure the quality of the health service providers, several corruption scandals have arisen in the country. This study attempts to tackle this situation by proposing a strategy for the quality assessment of the health service providers (Entidades Promotoras de Salud, EPS) in the Colombian health system. In particular, as a case study, the quality of the treatment of stomach cancer is analyzed.

methodsThe study uses two complementary techniques to address the problem. These techniques are applied based on data of the treatment of gastric cancer collected on a nation-wide scale by the Colombian Ministry of Health and Welfare. First, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist Index (MI) are used to establish the most efficient EPS's within the system, according to indicators such as opportunity indicators. Second, sequential clustering algorithm, related to process mining a field of data mining, is used to determine the medical history of all patients and to construct typical care pathways of the patients belonging to efficient and inefficient EPS's. Lastly, efforts are made to identify traits and differences between efficient and inefficient EPS's.

resultsEfficient and inefficient EPS were identified for the years 2010 and 2011. Additionally, a Malmquist Index was used to calculate the relative changes in the efficiency of the health providers. Using these efficiency rates, the typical treatment path of patients with gastric cancer was found for two EPSs: one efficient and another inefficient. Finally, the typical traits of the care pathways were established.

conclusionsCombining DEA and process mining proved to be a powerful approach understanding the problem and gaining valuable insight into the inner workings of the Colombian Health System, especially in terms of the treatment process performed by health care providers in critical illnesses such as cancer. However, no sufficiently compelling results were found to establish the contribution of such a combination to evaluate the quality in the delivery of health services.

Indexed as

Cluster AnalysisColombiaData MiningDelivery of Health CareHealth PersonnelHumansQuality Assurance, Health CareStomach NeoplasmsClusteringData miningDEAProcess miningQuality assessment

Identifiers

PMID28915811
PMCPMC5603051
OpenAlexW2754953555

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.